About this title: Garcia Marquez's portrait of the corruption and loneliness of supreme power takes the form of an interior monologue by a dying dictator. This is the original Spanish-language version of the text.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Plaza & Janes Editores, S. A
Date Published: 2000-07
ISBN-13:9788401427534ISBN:8401427533
Description: Very Good. (box au f) same isbn, different cover than depicted. light edge/point wear, light scuffing, no underlining or highlighting within, price stickers. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9781400034963ISBN:1400034965
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Text in English, Spanish. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Audience: General/trade. ganador del premio Nobe read more
Description: Good+ As issued No Jacket. Slight spine lean, corner bump, scratches to the covers, the covers also have a kind of waxy feel to them(not sure if this is a flaw or the way it is supposed to be), price sticker on inside cover, and other light shopwear. In Spanish. read more
Description: Very good. By Gabriel Garcia Marquez; ISBN: 843971579X; Pub. : Grijalbo Mondadori, S.A. -Mondadori; Pub. Date: 1993-01; Media: Hardcover; Weight: 16.8 oz.; Gift inscription on first page, very slight discoloration on dust jacket. All else is like-new. by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; ISBN: 843971579X; Pub. : Grijalbo Mondadori, S.A. -Mondadori; Pub. Date: 1993-01; Media: Hardcover; Weight: 16.8 oz.; Gift inscription on first page, very slight discoloration on dust jacket. All else is like-new. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oveja Negra
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9789580600060ISBN:9580600066
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Grijalbo Mondadori, S.A. -Mondadori, Madrid
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9788439715795ISBN:843971579X
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Text in Spanish. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 286 p. Narrativa Mondadori. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date Published: 2003-10-01
ISBN-13:9781400034963ISBN:1400034965
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781400034963. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9781400034963ISBN:1400034965
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"The subject of the story is the journey of the General, the ex-President of the Republic of Gran Colombia Simon Bolivar along the Magdalena River to the Caribbean coastline. The greatest hero of Latin America, who had sacrificed his youth and health for the independence of the continent, advocated the abolition of slavery and popular education, and, though "...had wrested from Spanish domination an empire five times more vast than all of Europe" and "...led 20 years of wars to keep it free and united", proclaimed that "...no can freedom be enjoyed under strength of arms..." But by 1830 he has lost many of his friends and supporters and has to face increasing opposition, the sparks of civil war and assassination attempt. Having resigned as President of Gran Colombia, the General leaves Bogota and goes to the port of Cartagena planning to retire in Europe. He passes through cities and villages, and through the feverish hallucinations of his increasing illness. Dissolution of Gran Colombia, tragic death of the likely successor and close friend, loneliness - that's the reality of his last months. So... what was it that after the years of courageous campaigns, struggles and triumphs had trapped him in this endless labyrinth and left to die? Reading this book gave me a controversial impression, I expected something more multidimensional..."
"Mi gran amigo Pekemon me trajo de regalo este libro para recordarme de donde vengo, para recordarme al mejor escritor de COlombia, que asu vez me recordó al libertador!!!"
"Everybody loves a hero. Everybody loves it even more when a hero falls from grace. There are few things that humans enjoy more than taking a powerful person down a peg or two. In fact, we get a sick thrill from it. Whether it's the rising up of a virginal starlet (take your pick, they're a dime a dozen) so that we may delight in tearing her to pieces when she is unable to live up to the exceptionally demanding standards of behavior we set for others to abide by, or the fall from grace of an especially sanctimonious politician (again, take your pick), these ritualistic sacrifices of character seem to sate an intrinsic need for blood-letting. I guess this should not be too surprising when we stop to consider that one of the major world faiths is predicated on humans killing their own Redeemer. Verily, the schadenfreude runs deep in our culture.
I had no idea what to expect when I opened The General In His Labyrinth. All I knew was that it was written by Colombia's third most famous export, the eminent Gabriel Garcia Marquez, (Shakira can suck it, she's #4) and was a paean to the man who wrested South America from the hands of its Spanish Colonial masters, Simon Bolivar. I figured it would be a delightful romp through military campaigns and political skullduggery as reflected through the always enjoyable lens of Garcia Marquez's magical realist style. Not so much.
The General In His Labyrinth finds the El Libertador at the end of his life. Tired and weary after over two decades of continuous war, Bolivar is a husk of a man, not the proud and full-chested figure represented in countless statues throughout Latin America. A piñata battered again and again by foes and former friends alike, Bolivar is in the unenviable position of seeing himself become a living anachronism as his nation, the country that he has shed so much blood for, outgrow its need for him. Meticulously researched from the memoirs of his confidants and his last surviving records, Garcia Marquez fairly drowns the reader in mundane details of the General's day to day life as he prepares to either go into exile, return to power by a coup, or die. These may seem like contradictory goals to the outsider but, as the General's aide repeats, "only my master knows what my master is thinking."
As the weary band of warriors makes its way toward the coast, we are treated to a backwards look at Bolivar's life as each village he passes through or compatriot who joins him on the road kindles the memory of his previous glory. The insult hurled at Bolivar by a little boy conjures memories of his first abdication of power, a slave girl reminds him of a tumultuous night between the sheets of another lover long left behind, the tolling of church bells reminds of the time when Bolivar first freed a town from its Colonial masters.
The descriptions, as they always are in Garcia Marquez's books, are lush and beautiful, though there are none of the flights of fancy that one could expect from his regular fiction. Here he seems, at times, a bit too chained to the historical veracity of his subject to let much whimsy into the story. However, forcing him to work within a framework like this makes those moments when he gets to cut loose all the more enjoyable, whether he's describing the ruins of Cartagena or the banks of a river. This wouldn't be the book I recommend to those new to Gabriel Garcia Marquez as an author, though anyone who is interested in either Latin American history will find this an interesting look at the last days of the Colombian George Washington, the man who freed half of a continent from its Spanish masters."
"I just started this book and already love it. I'll probably have more to say on it when I'm done, but right off the bat, it's exactly the same type of magical realism as 100 Years of Solitude, and I freaking love that book, so this one seems like it will be loved as well."
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